Anything But Love
by missattitude03
Summary: Not Babe, not Cupcake. Might be swearing, and Ranger is an a-hole. He gets better later. A veiled Joe bash later. This story reveals someone's secrets and watches what happens when their life falls apart because of them. Rating for later and safety.
1. Prologue

**First and foremost, let's get the warnings out of the way. I am usually a Babe, but for this story, I am not. If that wasn't clear enough, this is NOT going to be a Babe story. I love Ranger, but story would not leave me alone. Ranger is an a-hole in this story, but he's going to be less of one as the story goes on. I hope that you won't not read because of this. Also, I want to state that this will not at any time be anything close to a Cupcake story. I'm not exactly Supercop's biggest fan, but I try really hard not too bash him. However, there is at least one sentence of veiled bashing later on in the story.**

**Second, I occasionally have a mouth like a sailor and can cuss a blue streak. I make every effort not to swear in my writing, but sometimes it does happen to get in. When it does, it is not and will not ever be excessive by most people's standards. So, if seeing the f-word even once offends you, you are SOL with this story.**

**Third, the characters you recognize are Janet's. I wanted to borrow Ranger on a permanent basis, but she said no. I think my boyfriend appreciates that. :) Now, on with the show...**

**This started out as a challege response over on PP. The prologue was inspired by a song called "Anything But Love" by a group called Apocalyptica. They're a metal band from Finland. They play Metallica on their cellos. If you want to check them out, they're on MySpace.**

**Prologue**

"Exactly how did that happen?" Lester asked me. I stared blankly back at him. He pointed to my neck. "Looks like the boss got a little carried away last night."

I blushed and my hand flew to my neck to cover the bite mark. I went about getting my pop tart ready with one hand. Apparently, the concealer I had used hadn't been enough. "Shut it, Les. I am so not in the mood today."

"You need to put your foot down and stop this shit, Steph. If he's not going to give you what you want, you need to leave his ass alone and make him leave you alone."

Ranger and I had been…whatever it is we are for a few months now. We still weren't in a relationship, but I tried to tell myself that I could deal with it. I let him take me to bed whenever he wanted and let him get away with not being there the next morning and not calling me for a few days afterward. Lester was right, I needed to put my foot down and stop this; it was slowly ruining my respect and admiration for Ranger and I really didn't want that to happen.

Lester knew the situation better than anyone did because he and I had been partnered together since I started doing fieldwork about a month after I came back to Rangeman. I had a sneaking suspicion that he was falling for me, but I refused to acknowledge it. Denial was number three on my best friends list (right behind Ben at number one and Jerry at number two) and I wasn't about to abandon her now.

"Steph," Lester said seriously, looking me square in the eye. "You deserve better than this. He can give you anything in the world. Except for the one thing you want most. All you want is for him to love you and he can't do that. Maybe he's too scared, or maybe he's just incapable of loving someone other than himself. I don't know what his reason is, but I do know that he's not going to change. Ever. You know that as well as I do." Ouch. Talk about knife through the heart. I know it was true and Lester wasn't saying it to be mean, but it still. Ouch.

"You know what, Les? I think I'm not going to go to work today. Suddenly, I don't feel so well."

It felt like his eyes were going to burn holes in my head. "Fine. But when he comes to check on you, and we both know he will, don't let him take advantage of you." He bent to hug me. "You can find someone to really love you if you just open your eyes a little wider, Steph." With a fleeting kiss on my cheek, he was gone.

I knew I was being a chicken and avoiding Ranger, but I wasn't ready to face him. And right now, I wasn't sure I could spend all day with Lester either. I had a lot of thinking to do.

After Lester left, I settled on my couch and watched crappy morning talk shows. (Who the hell gave Tony Danza a talk show??) Denial and I went skipping through the daisy fields in my mind for a couple hours. Then she fell in a hole and sprained her ankle, so I had to go on alone.

I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I had to stop this thing with Ranger. He said that a relationship with him would only hurt me in the end. He gave me nothing in the way of real affection and he still hurt me. He really was capable of giving me everything the in world _except_ love. I determined that if he came to check on me, I would put a stop to this screwed up situation.

I had moved to my bedroom to take a nap when Ranger broke into my apartment. I woke up to the feel of his lips on mine. For a few moments, I let myself enjoy the feeling. But then Lester's words and my decision came back to me.

I attempted to push Ranger away and pulled my lips from his. "Stop, Ranger."

Briefly, a shocked look crossed his face. He quickly erased it. "Babe?"

I sat up and moved away from him. "This has to stop. I cannot do this anymore. You're hurting me with nothing."

"I don't think I understand, Steph."

"You give me nothing of real substance, and it's hurting me, killing me. I've realized you have the resources to give me everything in the world except the one thing I want most, love."

"It's not that I don't want to, Babe…"

"It's ok, Ranger. You don't have to explain. I understand. And I need you to understand that I can't be anything but your friend and employee anymore."

He gave me a solemn look. "I wish things could be different. I want you to be happy with whoever you choose to be with." In that moment, in the intensity of his eyes, I knew that he knew that Lester had feelings for me. Ranger smiled sadly. "Santos has been in love with you for a long time. He'll be good for you if you let him."

Despite the fact that I tried to stop them, tears began to trickle down my face. Ranger leaned over and kissed them away, and then he stood. "Goodbye, Stephanie." I watched him go and it was all I could do not to follow him. It might have been the way I needed things to be, but right then, I wished I didn't.

I lay on my bed, letting my tears seep out of my eyes and take bits of my hurt with them. About an hour after Ranger left, I got a text message from Lester that read: I'm proud of you. You _will_ be ok." I hoped he was right again.

**I'd appreciate reviews. But please, if you don't like it, don't just say "it sucks." Give me a valid reason why you think so and explain yourself intelligently. I'm always willing to listen to suggestions.**


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Thank God for Fridays! I had the whole weekend to do what I could to make myself feel better. Not much worked, but at least I had the time to try.

I gave myself a pep talk for the entire drive to work on Monday. My stomach was churning to the point that I couldn't even stand the _thought_ of stopping at the Tasty Pastry for a comforting dozen Boston Cremes.

I was muttering to myself as I got out of my car and headed to the elevator. "They say talking to yourself is the first sign of madness." Lester said from behind me, scaring the crap out of me. I must have jumped a mile.

"Make some frickin' noise, will ya?" I said as I smacked him on the arm. He didn't even flinch, and worse still, he laughed at me.

"It's much more fun this way." He said as he held the elevator door for me. I glared at him and he only laughed more.

We go off on the fifth floor and he walked me to my cubicle. I turned to Lester to thank him for making me smile when I needed it. He sobered and gave me a serious look. "You gonna be ok today?"

My heart got that squishy feeling it gets when someone does something extra nice for me. "Yeah, I'll make it." I sighed. "Thanks, Les, for everything. I appreciate it; everybody needs a friend like you."

He pulled me into a tight hug. "You're welcome, Steph. I'll be here any time you need me." He kissed the top of my head and pulled away. "I'll see you in half an hour for the meeting."

Lester headed off to his office and I settled into my chair. As I booted up my computer, I wondered what I would do when I saw Ranger. My heart squeezed at the thought.

I checked my email and I found a message from Tank saying that Ranger wouldn't be at the meeting and that he'd be out of town for a few days. I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding. This way I wouldn't have to go out of my way to avoid him.

At the meeting, I sat next to Lester and tried to focus on what Tank was saying, but I wasn't successful at all.

"Earth to Steph." Lester was waving his hand in front of my face. "You listening, hon?"

"Yeah. Of course."

Lester's eyes twinkled. "So you're up for going undercover at a nude mud wrestling match tonight?"

My eyes bugged out of my head. "What?! Hell no!"

The guys all laughed. "That's what you get for not paying attention. In all seriousness though, we do have to go undercover tonight. One of our skips is going to be at charity dinner. She's been convicted of fraud and extortion, so it's nothing violent.

"Finally. Where do I fit in?"

The grin that split Lester's face was disturbing. He was getting way too much pleasure out of whatever he was about to say and my spidey sense was tingling, which told me I wasn't going to like what he said next. "She's a lesbian with a particular fetish for stealing women from men; the better looking the guy, the bigger thrill she gets."

"Oh." I paused. Wait a minute… "So you want to let her 'steal' me from someone? Who?"

"Me." Lester's grin turned lecherous. "Although, I might be tempted to share if she lets me watch."

"Pervert." I resisted the urge to smack him this time. "Be serious."

"I am. You and I are going to the dinner as a couple. We'll do the standard 'fight in view of the target' and let it go from there."

"Clothes?"

"Taken care of." Tank said. "Ella will bring you everything you need. A limo will pick you up at seven."

"I guess I'm in, then." Like I ever considered saying no.

"Great. Meeting adjourned." Tank dismissed us.

"So what are we doing today, partner?" I asked Lester as we left the conference room.

"You really weren't paying attention, were you?" He chuckled. "We're taking a shift standing guard at the front gate of the Colucci estate. Hector has to down their security system to repair and update it, so they want someone at the front gate."

I groaned. "So it's going to be like surveillance without an actual target."

"You want to stop by the 7-11 and stock up on Tasty Kakes?"

My stomach was feeling good enough that my mouth watered at the thought of Butterscotch Krimpets and Chocolate Juniors. "You know me too well, Les."

We stopped at the 7-11 just up the road from the Rangeman building and I bought out Rasheed's Tasty Kake stock. Lester shook his head at me as I struggled out the door with a huge box. The look on his face could best be described as pained. "Oh, don't look at me like that. I'm not going to eat them _all_ today. Do you think I want to be a blimp?" Lester just shook his head some more.

Lester and I relieved Ram and Cal, who had taken the ass-crack-of-dawn shift. They laughed at my Tasty Kake stash.

After receiving a short report on what happened that morning (essentially nothing), Lester and I took up our seats in the guard shacks on either side of the driveway. The good thing about surveillance with Lester is that he talks. We had been sitting there for about five minutes when my walkie-talkie crackled.

"Wanna play Desert Island?" Lester asked.

"What's that?"

"We each ask questions like, 'If you were stuck on a desert island what one food would you want to have with you?' And you _have_ to answer; no chickening out."

"Sure. Why not?" It'd pass the time and maybe I wouldn't get sick from eating four hundred Tasty Kakes.

Lester contemplated his first question. "Ok, what three songs would you want to listen to?"

"Easy. 'Whiskey in the Jar' by Metallica, 'Livin' on a Prayer' by Bon Jovi, and 'Born in the U.S.A.' by Springsteen."

"Interesting. One food?"

"Pino's meatball sub. Come up with something a little harder, Les."

"If you could take three Rangeman employees with you, who would they be?"

I thought for a minute. "Ella, because heaven knows I can't cook for myself. Bobby because he could keep me alive. I don't know about the third. It'd either be you to make me laugh or Tank for shade."

Lester laughed. "I think, this time, I'll let you take four people."

"Thanks. What about you? Who would you take?"

"Bobby, to patch me up. Tank, to provide plenty of food when we have to resort to cannibalism," I had to smile at that one. "And you."

I was about to ask Lester why me when I caught his eye across the driveway. My hand fell away from the walkie-talkie, but I could not tear my eyes away from Lester's. I didn't have to ask why; the look in his eyes told me. I knew without a doubt that Lester M. Santos was in love with me. My heart was racing, not only because of what I could read in his eyes, but also because of the simple fact that I could see it. Ranger had always kept his emotions hidden, even from me.

That one thought of Ranger broke our trance. Lester seemed to know what I was thinking and he looked away first. That made me realize that if I pursued a relationship with Lester, I would have to wait a while. I did not want Lester to end up being "rebound guy." I could pursue him now, but we'd both wonder if I was just doing it to get over Ranger. I'd never forgive myself if I did that to Lester.

Lester's POV

I knew the second that Ranger crossed her mind. Her eyes clouded and the pain in them hurt my heart. I had wanted to be with Steph for months now, but she's been too busy letting Carlos' dumb ass hurt her. I've known him all my life, and he's never done anything more stupid than throw away Stephanie Plum.

As much as I wanted to pursue Steph the moment she was free of Carlos, I knew she needed time to really get over him. Even though she wouldn't admit it to anyone, she was in love with Carlos. My theory was that she was both afraid of admitting it and also, she thought that if she didn't admit it, she could deny it and maybe make the pain a little more bearable.

Part of me was also holding myself back because I wanted to make sure she didn't just see me as a friend or her work partner. Even more than that, I want her to come to me not just when there's no one else and she needs a warm body to chase away her nightmares. I want her to come to me because she sees me as a man she could potentially be with for a long time. I've done the "I'm just biding my time until something better comes along" relationship, and I'll be damned if I'm ever doing it again.


	3. Chapter 2

A/N: Ranger acts like a really big asshole in the chapter. It pains me to write him this way, because I am mostly a Babe. That said, please don't yell at me for it. I didn't wanna do it, but Alf made me! haha I kid, I kid. Much as I hate doing it, it works for my story, so I'm going to take Alf's advice and leave Ranger this way for now.

As always, I don't own Janet's characters. Although, since beginning this story, I have often wished Lester was all mine, because in my mind, he looks like Jason Taylor (defensive end for the Washington Redskins).

A special thanks to Alf for being my beta!

**Chapter 2**

Steph's POV

We played a few more rounds of Desert Island. After our one intense moment, Lester made sure to keep things light. I learned a few interesting things about him. For instance, his favorite author is Dr. Seuss; in Lester's words, "'One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.' That's genius poetry right there." I'm pretty sure he was joking.

We didn't talk about much of substance unless you count debating the pros and cons of football versus hockey. When Hal and Ram came to take over our position at the gate, we were still arguing about who would win in a fight, the Rangers' roster or the Giants' roster. I was sticking with the Rangers, but Lester insisted that Eli Manning could "kick some hockey player ass."

On our way back to Haywood, we argued about whose turn it was to type our week's worth of surveillance reports. Lester claimed he had done it the last two times; I was pretty sure he was lying. Since neither one of us could prove the other wrong, we decided to rock-paper-scissors to see who had to spend the afternoon typing and who got to do background checks. I won, so Lester had to do the typing.

At four o'clock, an hour earlier than normal, I shut my computer down and got ready to leave. If I was going to have to appeal to a woman tonight, I was going to need extra time to get ready. I told Lester I'd see him later and waved goodbye to the guys watching the monitors.

When I got home, I found two packages sitting on my kitchen table. I gasped when I got close enough to see the logos on the boxes. The larger one which I assumed held a dress, read Michael Kors. The smaller one, obviously a shoebox, had that unmistakable D&G logo on it.

I knew I didn't have time to simply stand and drool, so I forced myself into the shower. As soon as I was washed, shaved, exfoliated and moisturized, I tore into the boxes like a kid at Christmas.

My mouth dropped with my first look at the dress. It was so short that I knew it wasn't going past mid-thigh, and it was gold, looking almost like it was made out of metal. The empire waist and v-neck were going to make my meager assets look _very_ _nice_.

While the dress was gorgeous, the shoes were a masterpiece. If Ella had been there, I would have hugged her for buying me such exquisite pieces of footwear. The Dolce & Gabbana gold sandals had a strap that fastened around the ankle and a four-inch heel with gold glitter. The two criss-crossed straps on the front were covered with silver crystals. They were so beautiful I almost didn't want to wear them. Nevertheless, I knew what I had to do. Oh, the struggles I endure for my job.

I rummaged through my drawers until I found the tiniest pair of underwear I owned. With such a magnificent dress, there was no way I was going to ruin my look with VPL.

I probably should have gone commando, but I didn't quite have the courage. Any time I even thought about it, I heard my mother telling me to think about how embarrassed I would be if I was in an accident and they had to cut my clothes off. Thanks to her, I've never been able to do it.

I couldn't help but let out a sigh of contentment when I slid the dress on; the expensive fabric felt wonderful on my skin. My hair cooperated and fell just below my shoulders in bouncy waves. After I applied my make-up, I took a look in the mirror and decided I liked what I saw.

I was just fastening the second ankle strap on my shoes when Lester knocked twice before letting himself in. He stopped just inside the door and did a double take.

"Holy shit," he whispered.

"Something wrong, Les?" I looked myself over and didn't see anything out of place.

"God, no. You look amazing, Steph. You're not going to have a problem with this one. I might have a problem letting her steal you away, though. You look absolutely amazing."

I giggled. "You said that already."

"Sorry. Can't help it; you're distracting."

I blushed. "That is the point. You have the mic?"

I caught Lester shaking his head to clear it. "Yeah, I've got it." He pulled the small device out of his pocket. "I think you're going to have to put it on by yourself, though. I…I…I just can't." He shoved the mic into my hands and turned to go. "I'll meet you in the limo."

I was a little disappointed when Lester practically ran down the stairs. Getting my mic in place usually ended up being an interesting experience, at least with Ranger. But then, Lester wasn't Ranger, and that was definitely a good thing.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Lester's POV

What the hell was that? That's just the way to impress her, Santos; act like an eighth grader with a hard-on. I haven't been like that since…well, eighth grade probably.

I felt like I'd been punched in the gut when I walked in and saw Steph in that dress. I've seen her do quite a few distraction jobs, but I don't think she's ever looked quite that stunning. I had succeeded in calming myself down when I looked out the window and saw Steph walking out of her building. Instantly, I felt my dick jump in my pants. Watching the swing of her hips brought me to an entirely different level of hard.

Steph's POV

I climbed into the limo and noticed Lester adjusting himself. Trying to ignore it so I didn't make him uncomfortable, I grabbed the file sitting on the seat next to him and read up on the information we had on Katrina Simonelli. She had a long rap sheet, but her crimes were all of the white-collar variety, so I wasn't worried about this night ending with me in the hospital. Despite that, there was a ball of apprehension in my stomach. Something bad was about to happen, but I didn't know what.

When we arrived at the convention center, we made our way around the ballroom, making our presence known. We had only been there for about half an hour when I spotted our skip. I walked over to Lester, who was talking to Ram and his date, to alert him to Katrina's arrival. And it seemed when I spotted her, she spotted me. I made sure to make eye contact with her, and she appeared to like what she saw.

Lester, however, acted as if he didn't even know I was there. I could have been standing there in nothing but my tiny underwear and heels, and he wouldn't have noticed. "Go get me a rum and Coke," he said abruptly when he finally acknowledged that I was standing next to him. Then he turned Ram and Dina, his date. "You guys want anything?" When they both nodded, he told me, "Make it three." I had to resist the urge to stand and gape at him.

I stomped off to the bar and gave the bartender my order. I wasn't at all surprised that Katrina came up to stand next to me while I waited on the drinks. I pretended I was being subtle with the "appreciative" once-over I gave her. I did have to admit that she was fairly attractive.

"You look like you want to hurt him," she said. Apparently, she had seen the exchange between Lester and me.

"Most of the time, I do. God! Sometimes I wish he were a woman." My hand flew to my mouth as though I were embarrassed about what I had said. I didn't miss the spark that showed up in Katrina's eyes. I walked back towards Lester with a grin on my face. I got a perverse little thrill of knowing that the fish was almost on the hook.

I had to take a tray to carry all the drinks, as if I was a waitress. When I delivered the drinks to their intended recipients, Lester scowled at the glass of wine I had gotten myself.

"You really think you should be drinking that?" he asked. "You know how you get when you're tipsy."

I was flabbergasted. When I agreed to do this, I thought Lester was just going to flirt with some other girl and we'd fight about that. I had no idea he was going to be mean.

"I…I'll…" I stammered, trying to think of something to say.

"Take it back and get some water."

My eyebrows hit my hairline. If we weren't in a public place…But we were and we were working, so I stalked away as fast as my four inch heels would let me. I handed the wine glass and the tray back to the bartender before heading outside. I had noticed Katrina quietly observing the incident with the delivery of the drinks, and I hoped she would follow me out to the patio.

I sat down on the first bench I came to and pretended to be steamed. It wasn't that hard to pretend; part of me really was seething.

Katrina interrupted my silent planning of the speech I was going to give Lester. "This seat taken?" she asked.

I snorted. "Not like he's going to follow me."

"It's really a shame you let him treat you like that."

"I have to stay with him. He _knows things_ about me. If I leave him, he'll tell everyone. My parents will be so embarrassed; they'll cut me off and never speak to me again."

"I bet I can guess what you're hiding." I just stared at her, acting as though I was terrified that she really did know my "secret." "You're attracted to women aren't you?" I gave the barest of nods. "It's a shame that you have to hide who you really are. And you shouldn't have to deal with the way he treats you. We should go tell him what he can do with his ignorance. What do you think?"

I fidgeted and wrung my hands and generally acted as if I was genuinely debating whether or not to do it. "I don't know. He really could make a lot of trouble for me."

"If you don't stand up for yourself now, when will you?"

"You're right. Let's do it." I let Katrina pull me to my feet. Her back was turned, so I pulled my cuffs out of my small handbag. As soon as she turned around, I slapped one end of the cold metal bracelet around her wrist.

She turned and looked down at her wrist. "What's going on?" she asked, confused. "It's a little early to be getting kinky, I think."

"You're in violation of your bond agreement. I'm here to get you back in the system."

To my surprise, she didn't fight me. She simply hung her head and offered me her other wrist. "I should have known you were too good to be true." The sad look on her face made me feel just a little bit guilty for leading her on. Still, I had a job to do, so I led her over to the shadows next to the building where Hal was waiting to take her in.

After handing Katrina over, I went back to the party, intending to tell Lester I was going home. He was waiting for me just inside the door.

"Nice job, Steph."

"Thanks." I moved to walk around him, but he blocked my path.

"Hey." Lester put his hand on my arm. "You know I was just playing a role, right?"

"I know; I just wasn't prepared for it. I thought you were just going to flirt and we'd fight." I wasn't going to tell Lester that part of my problem was the fact that I still had a "waiting for the other shoe to drop" feeling. The capture went well, so I wasn't quite sure what was going on.

"I'm sorry, Steph. Next time we'll discuss our strategy ahead of time, ok? I just figured that if I didn't tell you, your reaction would be more authentic. Women are much more able to pick up on a scam, and we couldn't afford to have this capture go south. We only had until tomorrow to get her back in the system before Vinnie would have lost the bond." Lester seemed to feel genuinely contrite for the way he treated me.

I nodded. "Ok."

"Why don't we stay and enjoy ourselves for a while? You don't want to waste a killer outfit like that, do you?"

I couldn't completely suppress my smile. "It is a pretty great dress, isn't it? Fine. Let's stay."

"Great! Let's go dance." Lester grabbed my arm and started leading me to the dance floor. As Lester pulled me closer, I looked to my left. Suddenly I knew why I'd had a hinky feeling about the whole night. On the edge of the dance floor, Ranger stood with a very, very beautiful Latin woman. She had big boobs and a nice ass and gorgeous hair all the way down to that nice ass. He had his arm around her and she was plastering herself to his side like a leech. I felt like I'd been sucker-punched.

I guess Lester noticed them, too, because he suddenly put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me close. "It's gonna be ok, Steph." He whispered in my ear. "Do you want to just leave?" I nodded, not able to open my mouth for fear that I'd start crying if I tried to speak.

Lester led me out the door and to the limo as quickly as he could. I think he knew I was about to lose it. The closer we got to the car, the faster the tears started flowing. The sound of our driver slamming the car door behind Lester must have been the signal I was waiting for because as soon as I heard that, I broke down and started doing the ugly cry. You know the one: your mascara smears, your face gets red and blotchy and scrunched up, and you've got a river of snot coming out of your nose. Lester just held me and rubbed my back through all of it.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, my tears slowed down and my sobs reduced to the occasional hiccup. "What did I do to deserve this, Les? I thought he at least cared a little bit about me. How could he move on so fast?"

"Sometimes Ranger doesn't always make the best choices, Steph. And you didn't do anything to deserve this. You _don't_ deserve this, period."

Lester continued his pep talk the whole drive back to my apartment, telling me that Ranger was stupid and that any man would love to be with me. He walked me up and checked for monsters before kissing me on the forehead and telling me again that Ranger was an idiot. I got in my pjs and went to bed with the hope that I could fall asleep and forget for a few hours.


	4. Chapter 3

A/N: I'm posting today because I'm home from work, doctor's orders. Stupid flu! I figure if I see some of those review emails, it'll make me feel better (hint, hint). :)

Warnings for Ranger being such a pig in this chapter (a special apology goes out to Magdalync for this, I really am sorry for this!) and a bit of language.

Thanks to Alf for her Beta services!

**Chapter 3**

Lester's POV

After I left Steph's apartment, I wanted to go back to the dinner and beat the hell out of Ranger. How could he do that to her? They weren't technically in a relationship, but he knew Steph really cared about him. How fucked up must he be to deliberately parade Carmen in front of her? I decided that I was going to talk to him about it the morning. Steph might not be mine, but I was planning to change that someday soon.

The morning after the charity event, I walked into Ranger's office only intending to talk to him. But, I caught him just as he was walking behind his desk. When I saw him, I saw red. Before I could stop myself, my fist shot out and popped him in the face. I must have surprised him because he dropped like a rock.

"You're a cold-hearted fucking bastard," I said. Ranger knew why I thought so; no explanation was needed. I turned around to walk out before I could hit him again.

"Santos!" He barked before I was completely out the door. I stopped but didn't turn around. "Come back in and close the door." I did, despite the fact that I wanted to tell him to go fuck himself. "Sit down." Ranger ordered; I stayed standing because I knew it would piss him off.

"I know why you did what you did, and I probably deserved it. That's why I'm not going to ship you to Chechnya."

"You did deserve it, man. How the hell could you do that to her?"

"I thought it would be easier for her to let go of me if she sees that I can be just as much of an asshole as the other men in her life have been. Besides, a man gets used to satisfying certain…needs. Why give that up when Carmen is perfectly willing and understands how it is? I care about Stephanie, but I can't give her the life she wants. It's not that she doesn't deserve it, I just can't give it to her."

"You really are a bastard, Carlos."

"Take better care of her than I did, Santos." His statement was obviously meant as a dismissal.

"You can count on that." I promised as I walked out of his office.

oOoOoOoOo

Steph's POV

I woke up the next morning exhausted and looking like I had gotten stung in the eyes by a bee like I always did after crying myself to sleep. Despite that, I was determined not to hide from Ranger this time. I was going to let him see what he had done to me and not feel badly if he felt guilty. Which he probably wouldn't. Fucker.

I put as much concealer under my eyes as I could without looking ridiculous, and added at least five coats of mascara for extra courage. My limbs felt like they weighed a ton as I pulled on my cargoes and t-shirt, but I pushed myself to keep going. I was not going to let Ranger cause me to change my routine anymore; he just wasn't worth it.

I ran into Lester on my way to my cubicle. His normally sparkling chocolate eyes were flashing with fire. "Les? You ok?" I asked.

"I'll be fine, Steph. I'm just a little pissed at Ranger. Nothing some time with a punching bag won't cure." Without waiting for a response from me, he stalked way, presumably to the gym on the third floor.

I dropped my pocketbook, gun, and cell phone on my desk and marched straight into Ranger's office and slammed the door.

"What the hell did you do to Lester?" I demanded.

"Babe, sit down," Ranger said calmly.

"You don't have the right to call me that anymore."

"Fine. Stephanie, please sit down."

I sat in the chair opposite his desk and glared at him. "What did you do to Lester? I passed him on my way in and he looked like he was about to kill someone."

"It's not what I did to him that has him angry, but what I did to you. I told you before; Santos is in love with you, Steph. He took my actions last night personally."

"Or maybe he just doesn't like to see other people hurt."

"I am sorry, Steph. I never meant for things to turn out this way. I guess I thought that if you hated me, it'd be easier for you."

"I really want to hate you, but I could never truly hate you, Ranger. I'm not that kind of person. I would have been easier for me if you would have just left the situation alone."

We sat silently and stared at each other for a while, remembering. Before long, I was feeling the distinct urge to cry, so I quietly got up and, without another word to Ranger, went to my cubicle.

oOoOoOoOo

After I left his office that day, I decided to make myself get over Ranger. I figured that the best way to do this was to keep busy, so I threw myself into almost any activity I could find. I took a Yoga class and a spinning class, but neither one of those lasted very long. I volunteered at a homeless shelter. I delivered meals for Meals On Wheels. If some charitable organization needed people to help, I was there. I went to motivational speaking events and fell asleep through most of them. I did almost everything I possibly could to keep busy. I did reject Grandma's invitation to participate in speed dating at the senior's center, though. That's just…wrong and…ewww.

When I wasn't volunteering, I spent a lot of time on my own, just thinking. About half the time, I blamed myself for the way things turned out with Ranger. If I wasn't so needy, if I wasn't so greedy, if I wasn't so…the list ran on and on. The worse the hurt was on a given day, the more ludicrous the faults were that I heaped upon myself. I think part of me thought that if I could find enough fault with myself, I could understand Ranger's actions.

The other half of the time, I spent being angry with Ranger and men in general for being pigs, assholes, and any other mean name I could think of. I railed against the society that made it ok for them to be that way, and may have even thought a few negative things about their mamas.

Somewhere in between the emotional rants against myself and men, rational thought started to creep back in. While I acknowledged that I had set myself up by getting involved with Ranger despite everything he had said to dissuade me, I also realized that it wasn't _me_ personally that made it impossible for us to work. It was the simple fact that I was another human being, and Ranger refused to allow himself to get to close to anyone in any way other than sexually. Even then, once the act itself was over, he was back to being distant.

About three months after the charity dinner when I made the decision to date. I never really dated in high school, especially after Morelli wrote about me on the wall at Mario's. It's hard to have a meaningful relationship when every guy you know only wants to go out with you to see if Morelli was telling the truth about the taste of your cupcake. Dickie was the only guy I ever really dated, and we all know how that turned out. So, I figured it was time.

I made my decision over Friday Happy Hour Margaritas at Fiesta Fernando's with Connie, Lula, and Mary Lou. They helped me set some requirements for this new stage in my life.

The first rule—this one was Connie's idea—was that I refuse to date anyone from the 'Burg. According to her, the last thing I needed was another Morelli. Plus, if the guy wasn't from the 'Burg, it might take the gossip mill a few extra minutes to find out all the details.

The second rule—this one was all Lula—was no Merry Men. In Lula's words, "That might seem odd, with them being so hot and all, but that's just it. Ranger might kill anyone who touches you. That's not a risk you should take; it'd be a damn shame for one of those fine ass men to die."

There was a third rule, but none of us could remember it. It had something to do with no superhero complexes, but the details were…fuzzy, to say the least. Fernando has truly excellent margaritas.

oOoOoOoOo

The morning after our fiesta with Fernando, I woke up to a marching band in my brain and Lester yelling my ear. "Fuck you, Santos. Go away." I swatted at his face and managed to get a piece of his nose. "And stop yelling."

"Can't go away, Steph. And I'm not yelling. We're due for a shift at the monitors in half an hour. My cousin, Miguel, was your waiter at Fernando's last night and he called to tell me how drunk you were, so I came over to drag you out of bed."

"Wonderful. I think I'll kill Miguel today," I said conversationally. Granted, it was mumbled conversation.

Lester just laughed. "Come on, Steph. It's our turn to do the Saturday morning shift, and if we try to get out of it again, Tank is going to make us do eight hours of surveillance straight."

"Fuck." I groaned and rolled over with my eyes still closed, throwing the blanket off me. That made Lester groan. "What?"

"You should warn a guy if you're sleeping naked, querida." His voice had gone deeper than usual.

My eyes snapped open and I quickly yanked the blanket back over me. "Oh, God. Shit, I'm sorry, Lester. Gimme a few minutes, and I'll be ready to go."

"Ok." He quickly shuffled out of my bedroom without meeting my eyes.

I scrambled to make myself presentable. After I was dressed, I headed to the bathroom; I almost shrieked when I saw my reflection in the mirror. My hair was sticking up all over the place on one side and the other side was squished flat. Ten minutes, much struggling, and the snapping of the handle of my brush later, I managed to wrangle my hair into a semi-presentable ponytail.

I finally drug myself out the door after Lester, demanding that he buy me The Cure since he woke me up. I would have had to get up anyway, but I wasn't going to pass up an opportunity to get free food.

The two of us arrived at the Haywood building right behind Jose and his new partner Amir, who had only been with Rangeman for two weeks. The guys did their typical minute head-nod hellos while I gave a half-hearted finger wave from behind my fries. I'd had to bribe the McDonald's manager with 100 to get her to make them for me at eight o'clock in the morning. It was worth every penny.

Lester and I settled ourselves in front of the monitors for our four-hour shift that was going to end up feeling twice as long. Saturdays were especially boring because there typically weren't very many people in the building. This particular Saturday was so boring that Lester tried to create some adventure for himself by attempting a covert theft of my fries. He was not successful, and earned himself a slap to the arm.

"Touch my fries again, I will stun you." I growled. I pulled out my stun gun, turned it on and pointed the active end toward him to show him I meant business.

Of course, he laughed. "It's nice to see your sense of humor coming back, querida." I should figure out what that word means, I thought to myself. "How have you been doing?" Lester asked.

I sighed. "Pretty good, considering. Some days are worse than others, but all in all, I'm a lot better." Suddenly, I was nervous to tell him about my decision. I was worried that he'd be hurt that I wasn't going to date anybody from Rangeman, which would obviously include him. I knew I needed to tell him, though, because he'd be even more hurt if he had to find it out from someone else.

"I've decided to start dating. It's time I really let go of Ranger once and for all, and I'm ready to find someone else." The light of hope in Lester's eyes stabbed me in the heart. Part of me wanted to just tell him that we could see where it went between us, but I really didn't want to ruin his job or his friendship with Ranger. I wasn't sure if I could handle it if he decided he didn't want a commitment.

"That's good to hear, Steph. It's important for you to be careful about it though."

"I know. That's why the girls helped me set some ground rules for this whole thing."

"What were they?"

"Rule number one was no dating anyone from the 'Burg. I don't particularly want everyone telling my mother all about my current relationships or any that I might have in the future. I don't need another Morelli, either. Rule number two was," I took a deep breath, "No Merry Men." I finished quietly and looked away. Seeing the hope fade from Lester's eyes wasn't something I wanted to see.

"Oh." After that, we didn't talk much and Lester seemed almost despondent.

Back at my apartment after our shift, he walked me up and did his routine sweep for monsters. As he was about to leave, he gave me a hug that felt just a bit tighter than usual. "Good luck, Steph. It's time you let yourself be happy. Let me know if someone doesn't treat you right, though. I'll have them shipped to Kosovo or the Congo or somewhere really unpleasant."

I giggled. "Thanks, Les. Let's hope that won't be necessary." I had no doubt that he'd do it if I asked him to, though.

oOoOoOoOo

Lester's POV

Stupid, stupid, stupid. For about a minute, I let myself believe that I might finally have a shot to be with Steph. When she told me that she decided to start dating, I hoped that I'd have an opportunity to finally ask her out. The disappointment I felt when she told me that one of her rules was "No Merry Men" reminded me why I hadn't gotten seriously attached to anyone since Lupé.

Not for the first time, I cursed Lupé for the havoc that she'd brought into my life. The one thing I couldn't hate her for though, was…I shook my head. I wasn't in the mood to think positively about Lupé right now. After her latest escapades, I might never feel positively about her again.

I cursed myself for getting hopeful about Steph until it occurred to me that there was a positive side to her rule. It meant she wouldn't date me, but it also meant she wouldn't be dating any of the other guys. I knew Amir was dying to take her out; he has some sort of fetish for white women. Wouldn't date women from his own culture, whatever that was besides Saudi. I didn't completely trust the guy, and there would have been no chance I'd let him anywhere near Steph. His reputation with women was actually worse than mine, however undeserved mine was.

Trying to focus on positive things, I attempted to figure out how I was going to be the supportive friend I knew Steph was counting on me to be. It was unsettling when I came up with absolutely nothing.


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N: **I apologize for the wait; RL hasn't been terribly kind lately and my muse took off to less miserable climates. I'm posting this in hopes that she'll come back. The desire to write is definitely there, but I'm not sure if the words will come.

Only warning on this one is very mild swearing near the end.

As always, they're not mine. Well, except for Lyle…unfortunately. :P I'm not making any money off this either. Poo.

**Chapter 4**

Steph's POV

Later that night, while I was drooling over Johnny Depp in pirate form, Mary Lou called to tell me she'd set me up on my very first blind date.

"Who is he, Lou?" I asked skeptically. It wasn't that I didn't trust Mary Lou not to intentionally set me up on a bad date, but I wasn't sure if she remembered the "no 'Burg guys" rule.

"Lenny's cousin, Lyle. He's a year older than us, and he lives in Brooklyn. He's gonna be here visiting next weekend, and I thought you guys could have dinner or something."

Part of me wanted to say no. The tip of my tongue was poised to to form the word when my brain defied me and made my mouth say yes instead. I wanted to take it back, but it was too late. Mary Lou was already rattling off Lyle's stats and assuring me I'd have a great time. I wasn't convinced.

By the time Mary Lou was done singing Lyle's praises, I had a date for next Saturday night. I had a feeling this wasn't going to go well, but I tried to stay optimistic.

As the week drug on and on, I got more and more apprehensive about my date. Mary Lou had given him my number and he'd called on Wednesday to tell me that he planned to take me to Applebee's and then to this little jazz club afterwards. The Applebee's I could do without, but the jazz club sounded mildly promising.

On Thursday, after spending the day trying to catch a few of her skips, Lula and I headed to Macy's to find an outfit for me. I might not have been looking forward to this date, but there was no way I wasn't going to at least try to look good. I ended up with a flowy knee-length tan skirt with thin, dark brown stripes running in all directions over it. My shirt was chocolate brown halter top and I bought brown strappy sandals with a low heal to go with them.

When I was getting ready on Saturday night, my spidey sense was screaming at me not to do this. But I couldn't back out; Mary Lou would never forgive me. Well, she would never forgive me until I brought her a couple pints of Ben & Jerry's Chubby Hubby to smooth things over.

When the knock on the door finally came, I wanted to throw up. But, I forced myself to put on my big girl panties and suck it up. I opened the door and the urge to throw up came back. Lyle Stankovich was wearing white pants and a white suit jacket with a red shirt that was open a few buttons too far. He had what looked like a bearskin rug on his chest and it was peeking out of the open shirt. He was wearing at least fifty gold chains. Ok, so it wasn't fifty, but it seemed like it, and his hair was dripping with…something. His hair was so shiny I could have checked my reflection in it.

The worst for me was that I was at least a foot taller. Even if I hadn't been wearing shoes, I still would have been a solid ten or eleven inches taller. He looked like a bad impression of John Travolta from _Saturday Night Fever_. I resisted the urge to groan aloud and fake an illness of some kind to avoid what was sure to be a horrible night.

"Hey, baby. You look hot. Wanna skip dinner and get straight to the dessert?" He waggled his eyebrows and winked at me. Then, to my absolute horror, he did the finger gun thing.

I really had to fight the urge to groan then. "Uh, no. Why don't we go to dinner?" I shoved him out of the way so I could get out the door and lock it. We took the stairs down and the little creep tried to put his hand on my ass when we reached the lobby of my building. I slapped his hand away and glared at him.

On the way to the restaurant, Lyle rattled on and on about his job as a used car salesman; he even tried to convince me to come to his car lot the next time I needed a new vehicle. I was not at all surprised to find out how he made his living; he seemed perfectly smarmy enough to fulfill the cheesy used car salesman stereotype. He kept trying to put his hand on my thigh and I kept slapping it away. Then, at the restaurant, the hostess led us to a small booth. I sat down on one side, and to my great and powerful disgust, Lyle squeezed in beside me and again tried to put his hand up my skirt.

I knew that if I didn't get out of here, I would kill him. The Merry Men could probably clean it up for me, but I didn't want to ask them to do that. When Lyle was distracted by the ass of the girl who was waiting on the table next to ours, I pulled out my cell phone and sent Lester a text message.

"Rescue me. Applebee's near Quaker Bridge Mall," the message read.

Seconds later, I received one in return that said, "Be there in 10. Cut through the kitchen. I'll be waiting by the back door."

Nine minutes later, after forcing my way through an order of boneless BBQ wings, I claimed I needed to go to the bathroom. As soon as I was out of Lyle's eyesight, I grabbed the manager and explained my situation. Being a female who understood what it was like to be stuck with a bad blind date, she had no problem letting me go out the back door.

Lester pulled up just as I was waving goodbye to the manager. I let out a huge sigh of relief as soon as I hopped in his Rangeman issued SUV and shut the door. "Thanks for being my knight in shining armor, Les. He was such a creep."

"Am I going to have to make him disappear?"

I wasn't completely sure that Lester was kidding.

"No. He didn't do anything worth going to all the trouble of hiding the evidence. Besides, I couldn't let you do that; he's Mary Lou's husband's cousin. Lenny's family hates her enough as it is, I don't need to make it worse by helping Lyle take a permanent vacation."

Lester started laughing. "You went out with a guy named Lyle? Really?"

"Oh, shut up, Lester. I figure if it starts out this bad, it has to get better, right?"

Wrong. God, I was so wrong.

*****

I woke up on Saturday with a mission. And that mission was to make Mary Lou pay. I wasn't quite sure how I was going to do it, but I knew was going to get her for setting me up with Lenny's weirdo cousin.

Revenge was on my mind as I drove to Mary Lou's house four blocks away from Joe's grandma's house. I drove the long way around to avoid directly passing Bella's house just in case she sensed my presence and came outside to give me the eye.

In my anger, I knocked on Mary Lou's door so hard I thought one of the windows was going to break. I would have just barged right in, but it was Saturday morning and the last time I barged into Lou's house on a Saturday morning, I saw something I really didn't want to see. It involved Lenny and tighty-whities. I really don't like to talk about it.

After what seemed like an eternity, I heard the dead bolt tumble and the door creaked open to show a very unhappy Lenny. Fully clothed this time, thank God.

"Whaddya want, Steph?"

"Is Mary Lou awake?"

"How could she not be with you breakin' down the damn door? Come in, I'll go tell 'er it's you."

I wore a path in the Stankovic's already worn living room carpet while I waited. I couldn't believe Mary Lou had done this to me! I thought she loved me…or at least liked me a little bit.

"Uh…Hi, Steph." Mary Lou said hesitantly as she came down the stairs. "What brings you here?" As if she didn't already know. Her nervous giggle told me that she knew. And she knew that I knew she knew. Wait, what? I was so angry I wasn't even following myself anymore.

"I'm gonna kill you, Mary Lou! You can't tell me you never met Lyle, the used car dealer from 1972 who's seen _Saturday Night Fever_ about 500 times too many. Why would you set me up with him? Do you hate me?"

"No, Steph! I don't hate you! It's just that…well, he's Lenny's cousin. And he was begging Lenny and me to set him up. Then he saw your picture in the paper, and Mikey blurted out that you were on the news the last time you blew up a car. When he found out you were single, he wouldn't shut the fuck up until I agreed to set you up with him!"

My eyebrows hit my hairline. Mary Lou NEVER swore because she didn't want her boys repeating it in front of her mother-in-law, who absolutely despised her for no discernable reason. He must have really bugged her.

"Lou, I want you to picture something for me. You know the opening scene from _Saturday Night Fever_ where Travolta is strutting down the street, thinking he's the shit?" She nodded. "Now combine that with the white suit, add a few Mr. T sized gold chains and little more hair gel, and that is what you set me up with. He exaggerated his Brooklyn accent, said things like 'Yo!' and 'Eh!'" My imitation of Lyle was actually worse than Lyle himself, which was saying something. "And he tried to put his hand up my skirt at the restaurant. While he was checking out one waitress' ass! I had to call Lester to rescue me!"

Mary Lou groaned. "I'm so sorry, Steph. I had to do it; you don't understand."

"You're right, I don't. What I do understand is that you owe me. Big. I don't what, when or how, but I will get payback." Wow, that sounded a little cryptic. "What I mean is, I will think of some really nice thing you can do for me. I just don't know what it will be or when I will think of it."

"O…Ok." Mary Lou looked a little scared. Good, she should be.


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N: **No warnings for this chapter except a bit of ewww. Thanks to everyone who read/reviewed the last chapter. I tried to reply to each of you personally, but I may have missed someone. If I did, I apologize! I really do appreciate everyone who reads; reviews brighten my day like you wouldn't believe.

An extra special thanks to my Beta, Alf. She inspires me with her writing. If you haven't read her stuff, you should, it's fabulous!

As always, I don't own them. I wish I could negotiate for Lester, though.

**Chapter 5**

Monday morning I took Boston Cremes over to Vinnie's office when I went to pick up my skips. The only file was Norvil Thompson. Joy.

Before Connie would surrender the file, she insisted that I tell her and Lula all about my horrendous foray into dating. They couldn't stop laughing when I described Lyle's wanna-be mobster look. Even as embarrassed as I was, it was still nice to laugh about it.

Connie decided that, to erase the horror that was Lyle, I should go out with her friend whom she'd known her entire life. His name was Nico, and he lived in New York. Since Connie was _related_, I knew there was a distinct possibility that Nico was as well.

"Is he Family?" I asked. "Like with a capital 'f'?"

"Distantly. Delivers the occasional package here and there, but not enough that he'd get jail time."

I figured I could live with that. I had been interested in Ranger, and while his activities were morally right, they were often legally gray and occasionally even completely illegal.

"What does he look like? He's not trying to be Tony freakin' Montana is he?"

Connie laughed. "Far from it. He looks sort of like a hotter version of Scott Baio back in the day and with more muscles. He has these really bright blue eyes. I'd think he was sexy if I hadn't spent my early years swimming naked with him in his parents' kiddie pool. You should go for it, Steph. He's a really nice guy."

"You know what, give him my number. Tell him to give me a call."

To my great surprise, Nico called me later that day, while I was on a stakeout with Lester. We talked for a few minutes before setting up a date for the following Friday. I didn't miss the tense set of Lester's jaw or the unhappy look in his eyes.

"This one better take you somewhere better than Applebee's." Lester was trying hard to keep his voice neutral, but I could hear the jealousy creeping in.

"He's taking me to Rossini's for dinner and then to a small theater where they're showing lots of old movies."

"Let's hope this one's not the personification of a really bad stereotype."

Lester didn't have to tell me. After seeing Lyle show up at my door, I never wanted to watch _Saturday Night Fever_ again. I wasn't hoping for anything extraordinary with Nico; I just wanted a nice, normal guy.

*****

Lester's POV

Listening to Steph do that giggle that all women do when they're flirting made me want to wrap my hands around the guy's throat. This whole dating thing was driving me to want to maim any guy that looked at her. I was afraid that the next guy would be the one to make her forget about Ranger. While I wanted her to forget him, I didn't want her to fall for the person that made it happen unless it was me.

I spent the entire week watching Steph get more and more excited about her date. There remained the urge to beg her to forget all of this dating crap and run away with me, but I knew she needed to do this. It was for her own good.

*****

Steph's POV

After Lester dropped me off at my building, I hopped in my little Jeep and headed out to pick up Norvil. As I drove, I contemplated how I was going get revenge on Mary Lou for the Lyle debacle. Then it occurred to me that I almost always have to get the inside of my car cleaned after I pick up Norvil. If it's not because of what he covers me in, it's what he's covered in. This time, I wouldn't be paying anyone to clean my car and I wouldn't be doing it myself either. Paybacks are bitch.

Norvil must have been watching when I pulled up, because I heard his evil cackle and "You'll never take me alive, devil whore!" as soon as I got out of my car. We'll see about that, I thought.

I trudged up the stairs and knocked on Norvil's door. "Come on, Mr. Thompson. The sooner you go with me, the sooner you can come back and keep oiling yourself up!" Just the thought of him slathering Vaseline all over himself was enough to make me gag.

"Come and get me!"

I really didn't want to go and get him, but I knew I was going to have to. I opened Norvil's door with my eyes shielded and my stun gun at the ready. "Just come with me quietly, Mr. Thompson. You'll be back home before you know it."

"Screw you, devil whore!" Ok, that is the last time he calls me "devil whore." Throwing caution to the wind, I moved my arm away from its position guarding my eyes. And before I knew what hit me, Norvil knocked my stun gun out of my hand. I tried to catch it and fell on my ass into…I don't even know what. Norvil got a kick out of that.

I managed to get my feet under me and went after him. He was cackling the entire time. I finally got within arm's length and reached for his wrist. His wrist was greasy, so I lost my grip. To make matters worse, I tripped and my face hit his back. Did I mention he was naked? As my face passed perilously close to his ass, he farted. It was the foulest smelling thing I've ever experienced.

"That's it, old man! You're dead!" I shouted. I saw my stun gun laying across the room and went for it. Then I went after Norvil again. He ran out the door of his apartment and was trying not to fall down the stairs when I zapped him.

Unfortunately, he fell forward and tumbled down the stairs. Oops.

I went back to his apartment to grab a blanket to wrap him up in, and by the time I reached the bottom of the stairs, Eddie and Carl had arrived. They must have been close.

"Hey, Steph," Eddie greeted me.

"Hi, Eddie. Carl."

"You trying to kill him, Steph?" Carl asked, laughter in his voice.

"He resisted. And it's not my fault he fell down the stairs. Will you just help me carry him to my car?"

Carl and Eddie both looked at Norvil and curled their lips in disgust. "What the hell is he covered in?" Eddie asked.

I didn't want to know, and I told him so. "I'm not going to be the one cleaning my car. Mary Lou is."

Carl started laughing. "Lenny told me what happened. You're evil, Steph," he said as he grabbed Norvil's feet. Eddie grabbed his hands and they hauled him to my car.

Norvil woke up halfway there and started struggling. Because he was greased up, Eddie and Carl lost their grip and Norvil went rolling. When I caught up to him, I stunned him again. I was tired of playing with him and anxious to get him back into custody. Between the three of us, we managed to stuff him in the back of the Jeep. Eddie and Carl refused to go to the station with me to help drag him out. They said they didn't want to deprive the desk sergeant of that pleasure.

When all was said and done, the backseat of the Jeep looked like a dirt bomb had gone off in it. When Norvil took a little spin in the grass, he picked up all sorts of dirt and twigs. In the struggle to get him back out of the car, much of that had been deposited on the seats along with a generous amount of the stuff he used to grease himself up. Upon closer inspection, it turned out the substance was a mixture of cooking oil, Vaseline and lots of sweat.

It was sick the way I was bouncing with glee as I drove to Mary Lou's house. When I pulled up, she was waiting outside, roll of paper towels and bucket of cleaning supplies in hand. "Who warned you?" I asked, unable to keep the smile off my face.

"Carl. He called and told Lenny they ran into you." The look on Mary Lou's face matched what I assume my face looked like when I opened the door and found Lyle standing there.

"Well, I think you're gonna need a bigger roll of paper towels."

If looks could kill, I would have been dead when Mary Lou took a look at the backseat. "Jeez, Steph! You couldn't have told him not to roll around back here?"

"Nope. He wouldn't have listened anyway. Just call me when you have it done." I waved as I headed off to my parents' house a few blocks away. I planned to borrow Big Blue until my Jeep was de-Norvil'd.

*****

For the rest of the week, all I could think about was Friday night. Part of me was excited, but there was also a large part of me that was scared to death. I knew that with my luck, this date would be even worse than the last one,

The same knot that was in my stomach when Lyle knocked on my door came back as soon as I heard Nico's fist thumping on my door on Friday night. "One second!" I called before grabbing my purse and taking a deep breath. That breath was gone as soon as I opened the door. I had never been much for Happy Days reruns, but I never missed an episode of Charles in Charge and seeing Nico standing in front of me was almost like a teenage dream come true. He looked so much like Scott Baio that I cringed remembering all the posters from Tiger Beat taped to the wall in my bedroom.

"Hi." I inwardly cringed at the high-pitched squeak that was my voice. When he smiled, I think I may have had a heart attack.

"Hi there, Stephanie. You ready to go?"

I just nodded, not wanting to sound like a pre-pubescent child again. I was surprised to find that Nico was considerate of my four-inch heels and went for the elevator rather than the stairs. As we walked out of the lobby, he gently put his hand on the small of my back to guide me over to his red Lincoln Navigator. Is it weird that I was excited to ride in car that wasn't black?

When he actually opened the door for me, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. A gentleman, a real gentleman. I wasn't entirely sure they still existed.

On the way to Rossini's we chatted about general things like work. I was a little alarmed when he said he was a consultant. He didn't say in what field and he didn't say who he worked for. In New Jersey, consultant is usually code for someone who works for Harry the Hammer or Vito Grizzolli. Harry and Vito's consultants usually consulted on how best to fasten the chains attaching the concrete blocks to a person's ankles, if you get my meaning.

All through dinner, Nico made me laugh with stories about his crazy granny back in Greece. Apparently, she was constantly trying to fix him up with "a nice Greek girl, one with wide hips so she can have many babies." I was really enjoying myself, and Nico made it even better when he actually _encouraged_ me to get dessert. I walked out of Rossini's with a smile on my face and my hand tucked into Nico's elbow.

As we walked towards Nico's SUV, I suddenly felt myself being yanked away from his side by someone wearing a jacket that said FBI on it. And then there was shouting, lots of shouting.

"Nicolo Pappas, you are under arrest for…" the list of charges went on for what seemed like ten minutes. I caught enough to realize that Nico was a lot more connected than Connie thought.

I was contemplating what to do next and how I was going to get home when I felt the unmistakable chill of a cuff being slapped on my wrist. "What the hell!" I shouted, trying to yank my arm away from the beefy FBI agent. "What are you arresting me for? I barely know this guy!"

"Oh yeah?" Agent Horse Face, as I had decided to call him, sneered. What? He had a very long face and an enormous nose. "Seems like you know him pretty good." He shoved a picture of Nico and a woman who looked a lot like me in my face.

"That's not me! Are you blind?! She's shorter, her ass is flatter, and she has fat calves!" I was fuming. I tried to yank my uncuffed wrist out of the agent's hand, but he just held on tighter.

"Now I can add resisting arrest to the charges brought against you." He called me Maryanne and started reading me my rights. I was smart enough to be quiet.

As soon as we got to the FBI's Trenton office, I started asking for a phone so I could call my lawyer. I didn't really have one, but I was willing to bet Rangeman did and that Ranger would let me have access to an entire legal team if I needed it. Agent Horse Face finally brought me over to a phone, making me promise to be quiet until my lawyer got there.

I almost dialed Ranger, but stopped before my finger pressed the first button. Calling him to rescue me wouldn't be very conducive to moving on with my life. I thought about calling Lester, but then it crossed my mind that the more I relied on him, the more hope it might give him. That left me with Tank, whose number I didn't have memorized.

I took a chance and dialed Lula, hoping he would be at her place. As soon as she answered, I begged to talk to Tank. Luckily, he was there.

"What's going on, Steph?"

I quickly explained the situation. "I need a lawyer, Tank. I figured Rangeman's got one I can use. The only lawyer I know is Dicky and I really don't want to call him."

"No problem. Rangeman's lawyer is Marty Espinoza. He'll be down there within the hour. Don't worry, Steph, he'll have you home tonight."

"I hope so," I muttered as I hung up.

True to Tank's word, Marty showed up less than an hour later. To my surprise, Lester came in with him. Lester was still dressed in his Rangeman uniform.

"I picked up an extra surveillance shift. Manny's wife and daughter both came down with the flu yesterday, so he had to stay home and take care of them. Tank called me after he called Marty. I figured you were going to need a ride home." He answered every question I had without me saying a word. If ESP was some sort of requirement for working at Rangeman, how come I hadn't learned it yet? Lester just smiled as if he could read my thoughts.

Marty was about to introduce himself when Agent Horse Face came over and interrupted. "This your lawyer, sweet cheeks?" He asked me.

Marty didn't give me a chance to think of a smartass comment. "I'm Marty Espinoza. I need a room to confer privately with my client," he said in a no-nonsense-don't-screw-with-me tone.

"Follow me," Horse Face said. Marty and I left Lester waiting near the door and followed Horse Face down a short hallway to a small room with a table, three chairs and a dim, flickering fluorescent light.

As soon as we were alone, Marty started pulling documents out of his briefcase. "Don't worry, Miss Plum. You'll be out of here in no time. I've got copies of all of your identification documents from Rangeman, including your fingerprints. There's no doubt as to your identity, and they will have to release you. If you would like, I can begin drafting a lawsuit against this office and the agent that arrested you as soon as tomorrow morning."

I thought about it briefly. Though I felt like suing Horse Face because he was a complete asshole, I didn't want to deal with going to court and all the drama that would cause. The simple fact that I got arrested, even if it was by mistake, was going to cause enough rumors.

"I don't think I'll bother, Mr. Espinoza. It will just cause more talk."

"Are you sure? We could probably get you a nice, tidy sum."

"I'm sure. I could use the money, but I don't like drawing attention to myself. Besides, I'd probably have to use the money to pay you anyway." I may have been working steadily for Rangeman, but that didn't mean my Macy's card was paid off. I was still only about one level above broke.

Marty smiled. "Don't you worry about that, Miss Plum. I've been instructed to bill Rangeman for this visit."

Now Ranger was trying to be nice and considerate? Too little, too late, unfortunately. And how did he find out about this?

"I called Carlos, Miss Plum." Damn it! Even the Rangeman lawyer had ESP! "I'm required to notify him any time one of his employees utilizes my services. He instructed me to bill him for this."

"Oh."

"Now, I'm going to go find out who's in charge here and get you out of here." Marty left to go find whoever and I sat there, wondering how I was going to explain the situation to my mother.

About an hour and a half after Marty showed up, Lester and I were headed to my apartment. "Thanks for coming to pick me up, Les."

"No problem, Steph. I figured you were probably a little freaked out and would need a familiar face."

"That was sweet of you. I really appreciate it. I was pretty freaked out. Connie told me this guy wasn't that involved in…you know, the _Family _business. I guess she was wrong. He was so nice, too!"

"You can't always judge a book by the first few chapters."

Apparently. Maybe I should just give up this whole dating thing and marry Lester.

"If that's what you really want to do, I'm not going to object." Lester was watching the road, but I could see the smile on his face.

I groaned. "Is your ESP just that good, or did I say it out loud?"

"You said it."

"I'm sorry, Lester. I don't mean to…"

Lester put a reassuring hand on my leg. "Don't worry about it. I know that you need to do this for yourself. I'm not going to tell you that you should give this whole thing up or push you into anything with me. Yes, I would love to be with you, but only if you want to be with me. You're not going to get any pressure from me. The important thing is that you are happy."

"Thanks, Les." I whispered.


	7. Chapter 6

A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed, I greatly appreciated it. I tried to reply to each review, but there's a chance I may have missed someone. If I did, I'm sorry. It's not a sign that I appreciate your review any less.

I also owe a great big thank you to my beta, Alf. Without her, this story wouldn't be half as good. If you haven't read her stories, you should!

No major warnings for this chapter, though the standard warning for possible swearing still applies. The usual disclaimer applies as well. I'm not making any money from this, much as I wish I could.

**Chapter 6**

After my disastrous date with Nico the _family_ consultant, I decided that I wasn't letting anyone else set me up. From now on, I was going to be the only one choosing the guys I dated. I was hoping this would keep me from ending up with any more criminals or weirdoes living their lives stuck in another decade.

I'd had to disconnect my answering machine, take my apartment phone off the hook, and turn off my cell phone because the calls would not stop. Being cut off from my friends had me feeling pretty miserable, so I hit Macy's for their killer shoe sale thinking a new pair of FMPs might make things a little better.

It took me a while, but I eventually made my way through every aisle in the women's shoe section. In the last one, where the opposite side begins the men's shoes, I bent down to pull a box out of the middle of the stack. When I tugged a bit too hard, the box went flying and hit a guy in the back of the leg.

I turned around to apologize and was stunned into silence. The man I had assaulted via shoe box looked exactly like LL Cool J. He had the same big muscles, the same bald head and, my personal favorite, the same sexy lips.

"I…uh, I'm…uh, I'm sorry." I stuttered, having been suddenly stricken with the inability to form decent sentences. He didn't help matters by smiling at me.

"It's ok. No harm done. I'm Brent." He stuck out his hand to shake mine. "What's your name?" he prompted, still smiling at me while I stared at him as if I was a little slow.

"I'm Stephanie," I managed.

"Nice to meet you, Stephanie. Are you single?"

_Wow, get right to the point why don't you?_

"As a matter of fact, I am. My last date got me arrested, so I'm pretty sure it's not going anywhere with him."

Brent laughed. "Yeah, I think that might be a deal breaker for me, too. Would you like to go out to dinner with me?"

What could be the harm in it? "Sure. When and where?" A tiny little alarm was starting to sound in the back of my mind, but I ignored it. How much worse could he be than Nico?

"How about tonight? There's a little Mexican restaurant I know called Madres. They have fantastic food and there's usually a live salsa band."

I don't know what possessed me to agree, but I did. We exchanged numbers and he promised to call me later for directions to my apartment.

The rest of the day, I had an odd feeling that this date wasn't going to go well. I chalked it up to the fact that the last two dates I had been on were the kind that made a girl want to stay single forever. Still, I thought I should let someone know where I was going, just in case. I called Lester, but he didn't answer. As I left him a message, I crossed my fingers and hoped that I wouldn't have to call him again later so he could come rescue me.

Brent called at six-thirty and picked me up promptly at seven. On the way to Madres, I told him about my life as a bounty hunter, leaving out the parts about blowing up multiple cars and a funeral home.

Dinner was pleasant enough; Brent even taught me to salsa. It was during dessert that things took a sharp left turn into "What the fuck?" territory. Keeping things short and sweet, Brent told me that he was bisexual and he and his boyfriend were looking for a girlfriend to share. He said I struck him as the type of girl who would be into that sort of thing.

My eyes bugged out of my head and I sat there not speaking for a good five minutes. I wasn't sure whether to be flattered that he thought I would be that open minded or horrified that he thought I was willing to let two men share me. Not knowing what else to do, I said, "I…um, no, thank you. I'm a one-man kind of woman. I have to go now." Then, I threw my napkin on top of my plate, grabbed my purse and quickly walked out of the restaurant.

I started walking without paying any attention to where I was going. By the time I came out of my shocked haze, I realized I had wandered quite a ways from the restaurant. At the next corner, I read the street sign and saw that I was only about seven blocks from the Rangeman building. Much as I didn't want all the guys to find out that I'd had yet another awful date, I knew going there was my best option for getting home as soon as possible.

Since I had left my Rangeman employee ID badge in my apartment, I had to call up to the control room to have someone let me in. I had hoped Lester had already gone home so he wouldn't end up being the one to take me home, but in keeping with my terrible luck, he was waiting for me when the elevator doors opened.

I started to step out, but he motioned me back in. "The guys will tease you mercilessly, and I'm guessing you don't need that right now. I'll take you back to your place."

"Thanks, Les," I sighed, leaning against him. "I just want to go curl up on my couch and forget this happened." Thankfully, he waited until we were in the car to ask about the date so that the cameras couldn't pick up what I said.

*****

Lester's POV

"So, what was wrong with this one?" I asked as soon as we were on our way to Steph's apartment. I was almost afraid to hear the answer.

"He wanted a relationship with me…and his boyfriend."

Where _does _she meet these people? "I can see how that might be a problem," I said evenly.

"Yeah. If that's what floats your boat, who am I to judge? But, who asks somebody they barely know to do something like that? Don't you think that's just a little bit creepy?"

"It does seem odd, but at least this one wasn't a criminal." I had to give her at least one small thing to be positive about.

"That's a good point, but I this was the last straw." She sighed again. "You won't have to worry about rescuing me anymore. I'm done with this dating crap. I'm done with men, period."

"Steph…"

"No, Lester. I've made up my mind. Maybe Ranger's life isn't the only one that doesn't lend itself to relationships."

"Do you really believe that?" My frustration at Ranger for the way he treated Stephanie was amplified when those words came out of her mouth. "Do you have any idea how many of the guys that work at Rangeman have families? Hell, Rico's wife just had twins; that brings their total to five. Ranger's life doesn't lend itself to relationships because he won't let it, and because he's a coward, too afraid to lose the bullshit image long enough to really let someone in.

"Someone once said, 'Don't let the chains of the world keep you down. Cast them off and be free to fly.' Ranger has so many chains around him, I'm surprised they're not choking him. You don't have to end up alone like he is, and you don't have to end up miserable like he probably is and probably always will be. You can let yourself fly, Steph."

*****

Steph's POV

Wow. Why don't you tell me what you really think of Ranger, Les? I was rendered speechless by the venom in his voice. I had no idea he felt that way.

"Steph, this is the last time I will bring this up. If you tell me to, I'll act like it never happened. I want you to give a relationship one more chance."

I knew exactly what he meant, but for some reason, I wanted to hear him say exactly what he was thinking. "Any relationship, Lester?"

"No. A relationship with me. I've watched Morelli and Ranger toy with you, and it makes me so angry. I can and will do better than that, if you let me."

"I don't want to ruin your job or your friendship with Ranger. Besides, I've seen some of the women you…date. You can do better than an average looking woman with a belly roll that doesn't listen and gets into a lot of trouble."

"Stop being so hard on yourself. You are one of the most beautiful women I've ever known. I don't see this belly roll you're talking about, but if you think you need to, I'll workout with you. Ranger knows how I feel; he won't interfere because, despite everything, he does want you to be happy. The other things, well, they can be dealt with."

"What do you mean by dealt with?" I wasn't sure I like the sound of that. I had visions of being carried off and locked in a dark room.

"I didn't mean anything but that. We'll deal with situations as they come up, and we'll take it one day at a time."

"What if it doesn't work out, Lester? It's going to ruin our friendship, not to mention that it would be just plain awkward at work."

"If it were to not work out between us, it would only get awkward if we let it."

"I don't know…" Why in the world was I resisting this gorgeous man? It was definitely something to think about.

"I'm not Ranger, Steph. Never forget that. I'm going to be there for more than just a quick fuck. I'm comfortable letting you into my life; you're not going to get that man-of-mystery bullshit with me. In fact, why don't you come to a barbecue at my house tomorrow? It's a monthly tradition with some of my cousins and a couple guys I went to high school with. We grill, drink beer, play some poker, and just hang out."

Lester laughed at what must have been a panicked look on my face. "Don't worry. They're all very nice people, nothing to be afraid of. And, they'll all be very eager to tell you very embarrassing stories about me."

"I'm not promising anything other than I'll think about it," I told him. He seemed satisfied with that.

*****

As soon as I was through the door of my apartment, I headed for the freezer. I dropped down on the couch with the last remnants of my tub of birthday cake ice cream. It wasn't Ben & Jerry's, but it combined two of my favorite things, ice cream and birthday cake. Therefore, I loved it.

I put _Ghostbusters_ in the DVD player and attempted to ignore the real reason why I was so reluctant to date Lester. For once, Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray couldn't hold my attention, so I turned the movie off and went to sit on my fire escape to think.

While staring up at the stars, I concluded that, as hard as it was to admit, I was scared. Every major relationship I'd ever had ended badly. I wasn't sure if I could handle another one going down in flames. But was I really prepared to regret not giving Lester a shot? In my mind, regret was worse than fear. My decision made, I climbed back inside to try to get some sleep.

Saturday afternoon rolled around and I started getting nervous. I agonized over what to wear, even though I was sure it was going to be completely casual. I finally decided on a pair of faded jeans and a blue tank top that brought out the color of my eyes.

I followed the directions Lester had left with me when he dropped me off the day before to a modest but well-kept subdivision on the west side of Trenton. There were already two cars parked in driveway, so I parked in front of his house on the street. I rang the doorbell twice, but no one answered. I heard laughter coming from the back yard, so I headed around the side of the house.

I found Lester standing on the deck in front of large, expensive looking gas grill wearing a cheesy "Kiss the Cook" apron. He smiled when he saw me and waved me over.

He hugged me and kissed my cheek when I reached him. "You have no idea how glad I am to see you," he whispered in my ear. "You found the place ok?" he asked a little louder.

"Yeah. It was no problem. Looks like I'm a little early."

"You're not early, my cousins are just late, as usual. Let me introduce you to the guys that _are_ here. Hey, guys!" he shouted at the two guys tossing a football in the yard. "Come meet Stephanie." The two guys jogged over. "Steph, this is Marco." Les pointed to the bald guy who looked like he should have been working for Ranger. "This is Frankie." He pointed to the well built but skinny guy with shaggy brown hair. "I've known these guys since we sat next to each other in homeroom freshman year of high school. Don't believe a word either of them says about me. It's all lies."

Marco laughed. "You wish, Santos. Stephanie here looks like she's too smart to believe that."

I smiled. "Definitely. I get the feeling Lester here was a wild child."

"You can say that again." Frankie slung his arm around my shoulders. "Come. Sit with me. Let me tell you a story," he said dramatically. I let him guide me over to the patio table on the other side of the deck. "We were just wee lads of 16 when the brilliant Lester decided it would be a good idea to hot wire the principal's 1964 Mustang and make it ever so magically appear inside the gym. He roped Marco and me into helping him.

"Unfortunately, the principal came back early and caught us. He thought it was pretty funny so all Lester had to do was serve Saturday detention the rest of the year and hand wash the car every Sunday."

I smiled at the story. "What else did he do?" I was eager to hear more about young Lester.

"Well, there was the one time that he forged a note from his mom saying that he had to leave early that day."

"Frankie, shut up!" Lester shouted from his position by the grill. "That isn't a story you want to tell her."

Frankie ignored Lester. "Of course, he was skipping to spend the rest of the day with lovely Carmelita Rocino, captain of the junior varsity cheerleading squad. They were in the football field's press box doing their 'thing,' if you will. The football coach heard funny noises, so he went up to investigate. He chased a naked Lester down the bleachers and across the football field. Did I mention that the coach was the lovely Carmelita's father?"

I couldn't help but laugh at the image of Lester running from the irate dad. "Sounds like Lester got an early start with the ladies."

"Oh, the stories I could…" Frankie's voice trailed off. When I looked at Lester, I figured out why. The look on Lester's face told me, as well as Frankie, that he'd be dead very soon if he didn't find something else to talk about. "…or could not tell. Not is good." Frankie gulped.

"Don't worry, Frankie. I've heard enough. For now." I grinned at Lester and he groaned, knowing that I could pull more dirt out of his friends if I put my mind to it.

Lester's cousins Armando, Benicio, Lucia and Angela finally arrived half an hour after I did. Just a few minutes after them came Miguel, the Fiesta Fernando's waiter with the big mouth. I glared at him and he just laughed.

With their arrival came lots of beer and a rowdy game of poker. Instead of playing for cash, they played for cab fare. Whoever lost the most hands had to pay everyone else's cab fare home.

Since I didn't know how to play, Lester insisted that I be his "partner" so he could teach me. I think that was just an excuse to get me to sit on his lap all night.

After my third Dos Equis, I was no longer following what Lester was saying, not that his teaching skills were intact. He had at least two beers for each one I had, so his ability to focus was in the garbage with the empty bottles.

When the last of the beer had been consumed, the last hand began. Wild bets and bluffs were made in attempt to make sure someone else had to shell out for everyone else's ride home. After a few dangerous bets, Benicio was declared the loser and he pulled out his cell phone to call the nearest cab company.

We all sat around laughing and attempting to hold a conversation until the cabs began to arrive. Lester had decided to wait until he sobered up, then take me home himself, so I stayed where I was in his lap. We sat silently for a while before I couldn't take it anymore and had to run inside to use the restroom.

In my still tipsy state, I miscounted the doors in the hall and opened the second one on the left instead of the third. What I saw threw my inebriated brain for a loop.


	8. Chapter 7

A/N: Thanks to all who read and reviewed! I couldn't leave this hanging for too long so I decided to go ahead and post. A special thanks to Magdalync for not spilling the beans! :)

A great big thank you to Alf, my great and wonderful beta.

Standard disclaimer and all that. The only warning is for coarse language in the description of an adult situation.

Enjoy! (and review, please!)

**Chapter 7**

Lester's POV

After about ten minutes, I got worried when Steph didn't come back out to the deck. So, I went in search of her, not expecting her to have stumbled upon evidence of a side of me she didn't had no clue existed.

When I found her, she was sitting on the floor in Teresa's room, holding a picture of Lupé and me with Teresa between us. "Steph, there's something I need to tell you." I said, sitting down next to her in the room where nearly everything was some shade of pink.

"No shit, Sherlock." I couldn't tell if it was Steph or the beer talking.

"I promise I was going to tell you, I just didn't want to scare you away."

"Who are these people?" She asked, gesturing to the framed photo.

I pointed to Teresa. "That's my daughter, Teresa. She's seven. She always spends the night with my mom when I have everybody over, that's why you didn't meet her tonight. And that," I sighed as I pointed to Lupé. "That is Teresa's mother, Lupé. I have custody because Lupé is a drug addict. Right now, things are bad enough that I don't even allow Lupé to see Teresa _with_ supervision."

I could see the compassion in Steph's eyes. "That's terrible, Les. Has she been like this long?"

"Things have been up and down since Teresa was about six months old. Two years ago, after a reasonably long period of sobriety, I suspected that Lupé was using again. All the physical signs were there and she was making and receiving a lot of otherwise unexplainable phone calls. One day I decided to follow her. As soon as she thought she was in the clear, she headed straight to her dealer's house. I was livid to see that she left Teresa in the car. I called in to the control room to have someone come watch her so I could confront Lupé. When Tank got there, I went up to the dealer's apartment. I busted in the door to see her on her knees in front of the guy, sucking his dick while a bunch of his buddies waited their turn. She didn't have any money, so she was trading blowjobs for crack."

"Oh my God! Oh, Les, I'm so sorry you had to see that."

"So am I. I knew Lupé's methods of obtaining drugs or money to buy drugs were usually crimes in and of themselves, but I had no idea she'd stoop that low. I promised not to call the cops on either one of them if Lupé signed over complete custody to me and agreed to let me decide when, where, and if she sees Teresa. I told Lupé that I would only let her see Teresa if she got clean and stayed that way. I did my best to help her get back on track; I even paid for one of her trips to rehab. She's been only half-heartedly trying to stay sober, and I haven't let her see Teresa for almost a year."

"How much does Teresa know or even understand about the situation?"

"She only knows that her mom is sick and she can't spend time with her because of it. She usually does well with everything, but there are days she resents me because of it."

Steph wrapped her arms around my waist and laid her head on my shoulder. "It's ok that you didn't tell me before, Les. I understand." She was silent for a few moments, and I had no idea what she was thinking. Just as I was trying to find a way to lighten the heavy mood my story had created, Steph beat me to the punch.

"Ya know what, Les?"

"What, Steph?"

"I still have to pee." She giggled. "I kinda forgot." She struggled to her feet, still giggling. "Which door is it again? Obviously, I got it wrong the last time."

I couldn't help but smile at her. When things get too serious, Steph is great to have around to lighten the mood. I stood up and took her hand. "You missed it by one door."

While Steph was in the bathroom, I checked to make sure my guest room had clean sheets and blankets. Since I was getting too tired and was still too close to drunk to drive her home, I wanted to make sure she had a comfortable place to sleep. Much as I would have loved to have her sleeping next to me, I wasn't entirely sure I could keep my hands to myself.

*****

Steph's POV

I sat in Lester's enormous bathroom and tried to wrap my brain around the new information I had learned. Lester was a dad. His daughter's mother had a serious drug problem. I never would have guessed any of it.

Did all of this change the way I thought or felt about Lester? It did, but only in a positive way. It made me admire him for helping Lupé even though he didn't really have to. I respected him for trying to be a good dad and protecting Teresa. I got warm fuzzies thinking about the fact that he was a good man, unafraid to let me into his life and wanted to be committed to me just the way I was, flaws and all. It wasn't a combination I'd experienced before, and I didn't know how to react.

I must have been contemplating all this for quite a while, because Lester knocked on the door and asked if I was ok. "I'm fine! I'll be out in a minute," I called.

When I opened the door, Lester held out a t-shirt and sweats. "My brother, Renaldo, left these here once, and he's smaller than me, so I though they wouldn't be as big on you."

"Thought you said you'd take me home, Les. You gonna try and seduce me already?" My tone was joking, but I was serious about the question.

"I'm not going to be ok to drive for a while, Steph, and I figure you probably don't want to wait for a cab to take you home just so you can go to bed. I know you're not ready to share a bed with me, so I got the guest room ready for you. And I didn't want you to have to sleep in your jeans." Respect for my wishes and consideration for my feelings and comfort weren't something I was used to receiving from the men in my life, so Lester's actions had me ready to tear up. But if anyone had asked, I would have blamed it on the beer.

"Thanks, Les. That was sweet of you." I took the clothes and went back into the bathroom so I could change.

Renaldo must not have been a lot smaller than Lester because the shirt still came close to hitting the tops of my knees. I couldn't get the sweats to stay rolled up at the waist far enough to keep tripping on the legs, so I gave up on them and just stuck with the t-shirt. Lester had seen me showing more skin during a distraction, so I didn't think my lack of pants would be a big deal.

Lester was waiting outside the bathroom door to guide me to the guest room. When we reached a door at the end of the hall, we stopped. "Here we are," Lester said. "I'll be a gentleman and say goodnight at the door." He slowly lowered his head. I thought he was only going to kiss me on the cheek, but I was wrong. Not that I'm complaining.

Lester's POV

I really did plan to only kiss Steph on the cheek, but I could hear a voice in my head telling me—no, screaming at me—to bypass her cheek and go straight for the those sexy lips. They looked so soft and kissable that I couldn't resist. You know those disgustingly happy couples who say they could feel a jolt of electricity the first time they kissed? I finally knew what they were talking about.

My lips touched Steph's and I felt like I'd gotten a jolt from her stun gun. My hands came up to cup her face, and her arms slowly came around my waist and pulled me against her. I was deepening the kiss and losing myself in the feeling of having Steph's body against mine when she moaned. The sound broke through my haze and I pulled back.

"Steph, I'm sorry. I know…"

"Sleep with me." Before she said it, Steph's expression was dazed, her eyes glassy. After, her eyes widened in shock, as if she couldn't believe her ears. She turned around and thunked her head on the guest room door.

"I didn't mean that like it sounded, Les. I'm not trying to play games with you. Maybe it's the beer that's making me a little stupid. What I meant was…I'd like it if we could share the same sleeping space."

I chuckled at the careful, deliberate way she said "share the same sleeping space." "I knew what you meant, Steph." I gently grasped her shoulders and turned her back around to face me. "I would love to spend the night with you in my arms." I leaned down to kiss her again.

This time, as I started to deepen the kiss, Steph pulled away. "If we're going to make it through the night without me jumping your bones, you should probably stop doing that."

I couldn't stop the grin that split my face. "You sure you want me to stop? Seems to me you were enjoying yourself."

"That's the problem," Steph muttered.

"Don't worry, Steph. Nothing will happen that you don't want to happen." I took her hand and led her back down the hall to the master bedroom. When we got to my door, I asked her one more time if she was sure. When she nodded, I squeezed her hand to reassure her. "I'll be a perfect gentleman, I promise."

"I trust you, Les," she said, squeezing my hand in return.

While Steph settled herself in my massive California King bed, I ran through my nightly routine even more quickly than usual. To say that I was eager to get to bed would have been a gross understatement. Steph was almost asleep when I climbed in bed next to her. I pulled her against me, her back to my front, and started kissing her neck.

"Les?" Steph said quietly.

"Hmm?" I was concentrating on brushing my lips up and down her neck.

"I don't want to regret not giving us a shot, but I'm scared, so we have to take this slow. You gotta stop that."

My heartbeat quickened and I pulled back so I could look at her face. "You mean it? You really want give this a chance?" She nodded. "Then we'll go as slow as you need to, ok?"

"Thanks, Les."

"I'd do anything for you, Steph. Now get some rest; I know you're tired. Goodnight, carina. Sweet dreams."

"Goodnight, Les," she murmured.

It certainly was a good night. However, being jolted awake by my seven-year-old throwing the full weight of her small body on my chest wasn't so good.

"Daddy, wake up!" Teresa shouted, bouncing up and down a little as she sat on me.

"Are you trying to kill me?" I asked.

Teresa giggled. "No, silly. I'm just trying to wake you up. Abuela is makin' pancakes."

"Ok. I'll be down in a few minutes. Go help Abuela." I hoped I could get her to go back downstairs before she noticed I wasn't alone.

I felt Teresa start to scramble off my chest and then freeze. "Hi! I'm Teresa. What's your name?"

Oh, shit. I had planned to get up early enough that there would be no chance of this particular incident occurring. It wasn't that I didn't want Steph and Teresa to meet; I just didn't want them to meet in my bed.

*****

Steph's POV

"I…I'm Stephanie," I managed to answer Lester's daughter.

"How come you're sleepin' with my daddy?" My eyes went wide and I shot a panicked look at Lester. Before either of us could say anything, Teresa saved us from a potentially very awkward moment, probably without even realizing it. "Do you have monsters under your bed? Sometimes, when the monsters scare me, Daddy lets me come and sleep in his bed. The monsters are scared of Daddy." I'll bet they were.

"Yep, the monsters were very scary. Your daddy rescued me."

"He's good at rescuing people. Are you gonna have breakfast with us? Abuela makes the best pancakes ever in the whole wide world." Teresa switched from one topic to the next with the typical speed of an excited child.

Lester answered that one for me. "We'll see, punkin." He picked her up and set her on the floor. "Go help your grandma. We'll be down in a few minutes."

"Ok!" Teresa took off like a shot and we could hear her running down the stairs. When she was gone, Lester and I sat silently for a few moments.

"Well, that was awkward." Lester finally broke the silence. "I wasn't expecting her home until around lunchtime, so I thought we'd be up and dressed before she got here."

"It wasn't so bad. She's a cute kid."

"Yeah, I'm pretty partial to her myself." Lester grinned at me. "She wasn't lying about my mom's pancakes, either. You want to stay for breakfast?"

Meet his mother after having just met his daughter? She would know I'd spent the night. Yikes. What if she hated me?

My uncertainty must have shown because Lester told me to relax. "I want you to meet my mother. She will love you no matter what. And trust me, Steph; you want to try her pancakes."

Scary as the thought of meeting his mother was, I knew I'd probably have to do it sooner or later if Lester and I were going to be together. Plus, I didn't want to pass up a chance at good food. "Ok, I will stay for breakfast."


End file.
